Satanic Temple says IRS now recognizes it as a church

The IRS has recognized the Satanic Temple as a church, the organization announced this week.

The Associated Press said the organization provided the news agency with IRS documentation confirming the new classification.

{mosads}According to the news agency, the organization was classified as a “church or a convention or association of churches” in the notice.

With the new classification, the group will now reportedly be able to receive the same benefits given to religious organizations, spanning from tax exemptions to nondiscrimination protections. 

The group has long advocated for separation between church and state and has captured attention in recent years for some its protests aiming to erect monuments at state capitols in a bid to make a statement about religious liberty.

Penny Lane, the director of a recent documentary called “Hail Satan?” that follows the history of the group, told the Hill.TV in an interview earlier this month that “at the end of the day, the fight the Satanic Temple is fighting is one that is about pluralism and the values that the United States has enshrined in the Constitution from its founding.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are Catholic, if you are Protestant, or Muslim or a Satanist or an atheist,” she continued.

“This battle is super for important for you. So whatever you think of these people, whatever you think of their religion, whatever you think of their organizing tactics, they are actually fighting for your rights,” she added.